Description

De Bethune unveiled the DB25 IX Maya at SIHH 2012, created to commemorate the Ninth Mayan Underworld, part of an exceptionally complex Mayan calendar. It is fitted with a hand-engraved, solid gold dial covered in Mayan hieroglyphics and motifs.
De Bethune is better known for its avant-garde designs with equally innovative movements, but this is a relatively classical timepiece.

DeBethune has built a fitting tribute to the breadth of knowledge the Mayan people displayed in creating their calendars. Symbolizing the cosmic pyramid, the advent of a new world, and humankind's existential passage to the loftiest levels of consciousness.

Each gold dial has been engraved by Michèle Rothen and depicts numerals of the Mayan numbering system, glyphs of divinities, animals and sacred objects representing days of the calendar. At its center sits the baktun, a period glyph that represents the "Long Count" or 144,000 days (the end of which arrives this December). Accenting the gold are 31 flame-blued steel inserts, a great help when trying to get a read on the time. Further accentuating the dial are the sapphire hands, tipped in blued steel (exclusive to DeBethune).